Concerns Raised Over the Autonomous Lethal Potential of AI Drones

There have been claims that an artificial intelligence (AI) drone in the war in Ukraine found and attacked targets without direct human orders. According to reports on the 11th, a Ukrainian drone developer said that an AI drone tested on the front line attacked Russian soldiers, causing fatalities. According to the claim, the drone flew a certain distance and for a certain period of time, then carried out its mission in a state separated from human control, and the attack process was difficult for people to verify. If true, this would be a case in which the existing principle that humans should make the final attack decision has been broken. The article noted that such autonomous weapons are drawing attention on the battlefield as a means of responding to communication disruptions and GPS jamming, but that the risk of mistaken attacks and issues of accountability are also growing. The international community continues to discuss norms for autonomous lethal weapons, but there is still no binding treaty that fully bans them.